Abstract

Use of social networking sites is common. Twitter is a platform for the rapid sharing of news stories. We explored the Twitter status updates, and subsequent responses, between January and March 2014, relating to a number of perinatal deaths which occurred in a small maternity unit in Ireland. We identified 3577 tweets relating to the reported perinatal deaths. At the height of the controversy, Twitter updates generated disbelief in relation to the management of not only of the unit in question, which was branded as unsafe, but also the governance of the entire Irish maternity service. Themes of concern and uncertainty arose whereby the professional motives of the obstetric community and staffing levels in the maternity services were called into question. Twitter activity provides a useful insight into attitudes towards health-related events. The role of the media in influencing opinion is well-documented and this study highlights the challenges that clinicians face in light of an obstetric media scandal. Further study to identify how the obstetric community could develop tools to use Twitter to disseminate valid health information could be beneficial.